AS the National No Smoking Month was being observed, health advocates used all their lobbying energy in the last session days of the 17th Congress to push approval of additional sin taxes on tobacco.
This year’s theme is “Make Every day a Yosi Break-up Day.” The Department of Health held the kick-off activity of the events on Monday, June 3, which enjoined all key government agencies and civil-society organizations that are instrumental in forwarding the vision for a tobacco-free Philippines.
According to Dr. Antonio Dans of the National Academy of Science and Technology, the passage of the measure would serve as a perfect way to begin the commemoration of National No Smoking Month this June.
“It is fitting that we are potentially on the verge of passing an increase in tobacco taxes at the start of National No Smoking Month. Multiple studies have shown that a majority of the top 10 causes of death in the country may be linked to cigarette use. It is therefore important that we come up with mechanisms to curb the use of cigarettes, and implementing high tobacco tax rates is one of the most effective ways to achieve this,” Dans explained.
Dans added that the funds raised by the current tobacco tax rates are not enough to cover the economic cost of smoking.
“Every year, the government loses around P210 billion due to productivity losses, health-care costs, and premature deaths caused by the top 4 tobacco-related diseases: namely lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary artery disease and cardiovascular disease. The losses are significantly greater than the P106 billion collected from the tobacco tax revenue in 2017. This further emphasizes the need to raise taxes on cigarettes,” said Dans.
Senate Bill 2233 proposes to raise the tax on cigarettes to P45 per pack by 2020, PhP 50 by 2021, P55 by 2022 and P60 by 2023. From 2023 onward, the tax will be increased by 5 percent annually.
Only two session days remain before the 17th Congress adjourns. The proposed amendments for Senate Bill 2233 will be tackled on the floor on Monday, and health advocates are hoping for the bill to be passed on third reading on the same day.
“Each day that the passage of the tobacco tax increase is delayed, 288 Filipinos die of tobacco-related diseases. This National No Smoking Month, we urge our senators [to] put the health of the Filipino people first by voting in support of a higher tobacco tax this Monday,” added Dans.
Action for Economic Reforms researcher Arjay Mercado also stressed the urgency of passing the bill to Congress, saying that this would prevent an increase in the total number of smokers for the next few years.
“Our estimates show that if we do not pass any increase in cigarette taxes, the total number of smokers in the country will increase by at least 250,000 every year. It is imperative that we pass this measure to prevent this from happening, as the tax increase will discourage our fellow Filipinos from starting to smoke.”